I’ve been itching to return to the Middle East, and am excited to announce (Terminator style) that “I’ll be back!” From late January to February, my filmmakers and I will be in Israel and Jordan for the first time.

Can’t wait to explore Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, all thanks to the Israel Ministry of Tourism. Our friends at Ya’lla Tours are helping us get connected, and will also take us on a guided tour of Petra, the historical city and archaeological heaven.

My travel team and I will be shooting stories about the alternative nightlife in Tel Aviv — there’s a colorful LGBT scene here, including an Orthodox Jewish drag queen. We’ll also make travel videos, photos and blogs about the modern local fashion, Israeli wines, and even a hummus restaurant.

Maybe this time, I’ll get to ride a real camel? To get in the spirit, you can revisit last year’s Abu Dhabi and Dubai coverage in my Middle East category. And send us your travel tips; we’ll always keep them in mind.

Before we dive into tabbouleh and falafel, let’s hop back to Japan: the land of cute food.

The bakery also sells “kuma-chan” or little bear cupcakes. I’ve never eaten anything from Swimmer; the pastries look too sweet and cute to consume!

Mr Donut, the Japanese doughnut store chain, has seasonal collaborations with cute characters. Around Halloween, they offered spooky Hello Kitty donuts. For Christmas, they teamed up with Snoopy and Woodstock. Unfortunately, looks trump taste. I tried one, and gagged at the flaky icing and bready interior.

While “character bento” recipe books aren’t as popular as before, there are still kawaii food items everywhere. I found Rilakkuma bear cookie boxes in a convenience store.

Plus a bottle of white cat sake.

I grew up eating Pocky as snacks. Fun to see these panda versions, made with white chocolate over brown sticks.

Do ghost tomato Pretz taste extra scary?

In Japan, you’ll often see vans or trucks decorated to the nines. I stopped short when I saw this one, plastered with cute animals… made from flowers!

Similar to bento decoration, the flowers are arranged in clever ways to mimic figures like Santa Claus. Paper or felt cut-outs form the eyes, nose and details.

These panda bear flowers were my favorites. At first, I thought they were onigiri or rice balls.

Just when you think the Japanese have thought of every possible way to make things cute… a new idea comes along.

Back to food, minus the cuteness. Whenever I’m in Tokyo, I gorge myself on sushi since the quality is outstanding here. At “kaiten” conveyor sushi parlors like Hibari in Kabukicho, each plate is only about $1.40.

If you don’t know Japanese, there is usually a photo menu that you can point to. My favorites are unagi (eel), hamachi (yellowtail), bintoro (albacore tuna)…

… and if I’m lucky, toro salmon topped with ikura, (fish roe). It melts in your mouth like nothing else, and is only about $2. I once ate about eight of these!

While not so pretty-looking, okonomiyaki or savory pancakes are a must-try, especially in Osaka. Also visit an izakaya, or homestyle pub, and pop into Coco Ichiban for mouthwatering Japanese curry.

How about dessert? If it’s around October, you can find pumpkin flavored Haagen Dazs ice cream in convenience stores.

Basil and I hope you enjoyed this post about cute and yummy food in Japan. We urge you to step out of your comfort zone, and try new dishes whenever you are traveling. I’ll be doing that soon in Israel and Jordan.

But still plenty of events like this one (a new wave party, expect 600-700 people to attend)

And I am familiar with plenty of the people in the scene if you need help with anything, so don’t hesitate to ask

http://www.lacarmina.com/blog lacarmina

amazing, thank you!! got any favorite nightclubs or bars?

Zak Hofman

I have plenty, though most of them are somewhat more “mainstream”. While the music can be alternative, goth, punk etc. people usually don’t tend to, let’s say, dress up. Remember that it is important to check out exactly what party there is, as on different days could mean different lines completey (like one Friday is house, but the Friday after could be dark 80’s even at the same club). In Tel Aviv you can look for Haoman 17, Hablock, or Komfort 13. There is only one s&m club called the dungeon though I am not really familiar with it (not really my style, sorry!). I can post the links of you like. Unfortunately won’t be back in Israel when your are there, but for sure you wouldn’t have problems finding company and friends!

Other places to look for would Jovinco in Shenkin st who was an early tattoo artist in Israel. the Tomer shop in Dizengoff center which deals in ‘alternative’ sub culture, and the third ear record store just opposite the shopping mall which is a famous Tel-Aviv institution (though again, a bit more mainstream). This is what I can think of now, though there it’s probably much more to explore

Karina Rogachevskaya

I’m from Israel too! And I was looking goth clubs in Japan to!
Btw The IGF was great .
Have you enjoyed In Japan? :)

http://www.lacarmina.com/blog lacarmina

love the nightlife in both places! Tons of Israel coverage coming up XX

Ava

Don’t forget Palestine!

Sarah

You are elegant + adorable! I love it xx

Ales

Oh my God I want to go so much. ！(◎_◎;)

Haj

Beautiful. Ummmm… Keep the peace.

liana

welcome to israel

Francesca

OMG OMG OMG you’re gping to Petra!!!! Can’t wait to see the photos!!! By the way, even though those yummy buns and cakes look very cute, they completely pale into insignificance when you put them side by side with photos of Basil. Not fair on the poor cakes…. ;-)